Chapter 5. Audio Integration: Postmortem

Chapter 5. Audio Integration: Postmortem

Deus Ex: Invisible War, developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive, was released in the summer of 2003 on the Microsoft Xbox and PC platforms. This title is an excellent example of game development that used advanced technology and rigorous production standards. The process of creating DE:IW also reveals some of the challenges of integrating audio with the rest of the game. I will describe this aspect of DE: IW's development.

The team that developed DE:IW was thrown together for the first time and employed a lot of creative innovation, more so than with any other project I've worked on. However, the team also went through major growing pains and thus learned many lessons about proper management and workflow the hard way—after problems arose. My synopsis focuses more on procedure than on personal interaction. Keep in mind, though, that the latter is important, and take into account the lessons discussed in earlier chapters about communication, semantics, and familiarity with other perspectives and paradigms.